


Freak

by Phosphorescent



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Anger, Backstory, Character Study, Class Issues, Female Character of Color, Gen, POV Character of Color, POV Female Character, POV Minor Character, Privilege, Racism, Sally Donovan & Sherlock Holmes - Freeform, Sally Donovan Appreciation, Season/Series 01, Sexism, Unpopular Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 10:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phosphorescent/pseuds/Phosphorescent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, Sally Donovan has perfectly valid reasons for her hatred of Sherlock Holmes. These are just a few of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freak

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock. And if you think that I do, you clearly need to brush up your inductive and deductive reasoning skills.
> 
> Additional Note: Because as much as I love Sherlock as a fictional character, let's face it: most of us wouldn't like him nearly as much in real life. Also, Sgt. Sally Donovan deserves more depth in fanfic and on the show than she typically gets. She's deeply flawed, yes, but so are all of the other characters; that's what makes them interesting.
> 
> Finally, if I have written anything problematic in this or any of my stories, please don't hesitate to let me know (if that is your desire - obviously you don't owe me your education/correction). I will always listen, always thank you, and frequently do my best to fix it.
> 
> Set circa Series One, originally posted on FF.N on 6 February 2013.

Oh how she hates him. Hates him hates him  _hates_  him.

Entitled, that's what he is. All public school accent and thousand-pound suits and sneers at the "common" folk. Entitled in almost all the ways that one can be entitled: male, white, wealthy, attractive, clever, and connected.

She doesn't hate him because he's entitled, though. Or at least, not entirely.

No, she hates him because he's got the bloody gall to sneer at those people who have to work to get anywhere in the world. Because he makes cracks about her spending the night at Anderson's "scrubbing the floor, going by the state of your knees" – either unaware or uncaring about their deeper misogynistic and racist implications – and then bloody well  _smirks_  like the entitled arse he is. And in smirking, invites everyone else to share in on the laugh, because isn't it  _funny_  and it's not like Sally has had to grit her teeth and smile along at this sort of thing before or anything. Don't want to seem oversensitive, after all. You don't get anywhere that way.

He's never had to claw his way out of poverty, never had to struggle to hold three part-time jobs whilst attending Uni on a scholarship, never had to ignore snide remarks about how he'd only got his position on his back or to fill a positive discrimination quota; he's never had to act twice as tough as the boys to be accepted and then get called a cold bitch for being that tough.

Oh, he's clever, she grants him that much. Even an idiot would realise that he's ridiculously clever. (And despite what The Great Sherlock Holmes thinks, Sally isn't an idiot.)

She doesn't hate him because he's clever, though. She hates him for what he  _does_  with that cleverness.

And it isn't just because he always breezes in and brushes aside everyone else's hard work and contributions and is  _still_  almost always right in his deductions. (No, she can put aside her pride, thank you very much, even though she does hate being made to feel small and stupid. The victims matter more than she does, and if Sherlock bleedin' Holmes is what's necessary, she'll grudgingly put up with him every now and then. (Not  _too_  often, mind.))

It isn't even because his presence at crime scenes is  _illegal_ , threatening to overturn their previous criminal convictions and cost them their hard-earned jobs.

No, she hates him because he only uses that intelligence to amuse himself – always at the cost of other people and frequently for no reason  _beyond_  his own amusement. He's a bully. Reminds her a bit of a kid frying ants on the pavement with a magnifying glass, watching them burn just because he  _can_.

And yes, she knows that he was probably bullied a bit growing up – between his freakish intelligence, psychopathic tendencies, and utter lack of mind-to-mouth filter, she'd be surprised if he  _wasn't_  – but that's no excuse.

He's a bully and almost no one has the spine to stand up to him, so Sally makes a point of doing so. She calls him 'freak' to remind him that being bullied isn't pleasant; to remind him that not everyone is part of his little fan club, so easily placated by the occasional well-placed smile and insincere compliment. To remind him that not everyone is so easily blinded by the glamour of his genius.

(And fine, maybe she derives a little satisfaction from calling him names. She's never claimed to be perfect.)

She hates the way he manipulates people into doing what he wants and then leaves them holding the bag. (Gets away with everything, that one.)

She hates the way he's enthralled her boss, because she knows in her bones that that association isn't going to end well.

She hates the way he can read her past on her skin, his gaze stripping her bare; dissecting her like one of his corpses. She hates waiting – constantly on edge – for him to expose her secrets to the rest of the world, ruining the respect that she's worked so  _hard_  to build.

She hates him most, though, because he doesn't  _care_. He looks at victims and sees – well, she's not entirely sure  _what_  he sees, to be frank, but she's damn sure he doesn't see the real people that they were; real people with emotions and dreams and loved ones; real people who were worth every bit as much as he is, for all that they weren't as clever. (Then again, he doesn't care about the living either. Seems to think that everyone exists for his amusement. Takes it for granted that it's an – an  _honour_  or something to assist him, to die for him. (And God knows she's seen enough deaths thanks to his stupidity.))

She'd give anything to have his skills and it  _kills_  her to see how little he really values what he has; how little he actually uses them to help others. If she were him, she'd be working even longer hours at the Yard than she is now, and that's saying something.

And the man has the temerity to sit around and whine about being bored!

It infuriates her that he seems to think that the 'less interesting' deaths are somehow unworthy of his attention, unworthy of receiving justice and respect. That he actually  _admires_ the criminal masterminds he chases.

Sally became a detective because she believes in the sanctity of human life, because she believes that  _everyone_  deserves justice.

Sherlock Holmes doesn't care about any of that, not even on an abstract level. He's rude and a bully and a thoroughly entitled arse.

(She hates him because he could be so much  _more_ , but refuses to try.)

So yes, she fucking  _hates_  Sherlock Holmes. Wouldn't you?


End file.
